Customer Reviews

George Orwell Boxed Set

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This was my first venture into audio books and I purchased this because I could get two books for only a few dollars more than 1. This turned out to be a great purchase. I do not own a cd player that plays MP3's, but I was able to put the disk into my computer and drag and drop the files into my portable MP3 player and copy the files onto my hard drive so that I can listen on my computer or convert the files to WAV myself and burn onto a standard CD.

The boxed set is essentially a regular DVD sized box with a chapter listing. Nothing else is included, but you don't need anything else. The readers are wonderful. Very clear voices with nice inflection that doesn't distract from the story. Both these books are classic reads, so if you'd like reviews on the content of the books, I'd suggest you look up the paper editions as they are heavily reviewed and provide a lot of information.

This version is unabridged so the same information should apply. As a matter of fact, much of the information is easier to understand when listening to it rather than reading it off the page - particularly the introduction portion which I normally just skip over to get to the story was very interesting and much more thought provoking to listen to than I would have expected.

The sound is crystal clear and the product is highly recommended.

Simon Prebble and Ralph Cosham both do a fine job of narration. They both have easily understood English accents, and differentiated character voices that are not distracting and allow the listener to easily follow dialog between multiple characters.

Both books are very good cautionary tales about over-mighty governments that remain unchecked by citizens. I am a naturally optimistic person, but after I read either one of these books I am forced to take a more warily critical look at the government and media. It is very important that all citizens do this occasionally to avoid becoming the sheep of Animal Farm or the blind party member of 1984.

I can't believe I made it through both high school and college without reading these classics. Both of these need to be mandatory reading for all high school seniors.

I listen to audio books going back and forth to work. Mostly, I listen to the classics.

Where did the terms "big brother" and "big brother is watching" come from? They came from the book 1984 by George Orwell.

1984 is one that I read in high school because I was required to do so and learned little from it -- it seemed complex and the teacher kept talking about the threat of communism. Now, the sound is more relevant, the words more precise, and the democracy we have seems to be more delicate and vulnerable to the dangers proposed by Orwell.

1984 talks to the impact of the full use of technologies we have available today. For example, today it is possible to have two-way video and two-way audio transmissions in/from each home. What if the government provided those technologies to everyone to help improve our security, our physical fitness, and our economic well-being? Of course the government would be on the other side of the two-way part. That was the promised use of these technologies in 1984. As the five-year plans in Russia demonstrated, government controlled goals over such things can describe socio-economics plans and processes which are not obtainable, much less desired. What happens to love and romance and intimacy? These are elements of our privacy and human needs addressed by the government in 1984. What happens to individuality and creativity if the government is in constant two-way communications with all citizens? The book is intense and intellectual. The individual reading the book to you is effective providing us the feeling of the various characters. I liked it all.

The bonus with this audio book is you get Animal Farm, too. Although a fantasy and not possible (as 1984 is possible), the lesson is genuine and relevant. We must listen to what our government is doing, read 3rd party reporting, and push back on changes we feel are wrong. It seems intuitive. It is not. The crowd may be against us, not because they disagree with our logic but because they lack all the information to participate in the discussion. And to get all the information takes time and objective reporting. The book has animals speaking, thinking, teaming, and warring. It provides no solution. It provides us a sensitive look at how silly and dangerous we can be in the governments we support, whether in Seattle, Moscow or Tokyo.

Orwell was brilliant. He thought through some of these things for you and made them consumable. You will enjoy and be frustrated by listening to his stories. He wrote precisely. He shared his view of the role government might play. I liked his word choice, his grammar, and his character development. There are several surprises in both books waiting for you.

This audio edition of George Orwell's classic novels "1984" and "Animal Farm" is an excellent deal because they are both well-read, unabridged, and very reasonably priced. "1984" is on 9 discs and "Animal Farm" is on 3 discs. They are housed in cardboard pockets, so care is needed when removing them to prevent scratches. The first "Animal Farm" disc opens with an 18-minute introduction on the original release of the novel during the same month when the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place. Coincidentally, some thought (and many historians today believe) the atomic bombs were as much a message sent to the Soviets (the Russian Revolution and Stalin's Purges, of course, were parodied in Orwell's novel) as an attack on Japan to end WWII. It also explains why "Animal Farm" is considered a "fairy story." The introduction was mildly interesting, but hard to follow at times, and seemed longer than it needed to be as I was anxious to hear the story. There is no introduction for "1984."

Simon Prebble ("1984") and Ralph Casham ("Animal Farm") give excellent readings that bring life to the stories. They speak clearly and even give voices to the characters. I can still hear the horse Boxer saying, "I will work harder." This CD set was my first time hearing "1984." Prebble's reading made this fascinating and horrifying story come alive to me and I was really pulled in during the final 3 discs. Both stories can usher feelings of outrage and anger towards the characters, especially "Animal Farm." At the end of that story I hated that pig Napoleon. It's funny to hate a fictional character, but I guess that story came alive to me as did "1984." Both stories certainly demonstrate how much freedom should be appreciated and not taken for granted.

I am really impressed with the superb job the narrator does of bringing home the deeply complex emotions of 1984. He has a mildly British accent (totally understandable to Americans), a pleasant voice, a good reading speed and I feel like he "gets" the story. I have read the book(s) several times and bought the audio thinking it would be decent entertainment for a road trip. Next thing I know I found myself sitting out in my car for 25 minutes after arriving at my hotel transfixed by the power of the reading. Some parts of 1984 that had never caught my full attention before were illuminated by hearing some other voice than my own speak them. For example, I have always loved the phrase "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." and wondered what kind of tone would these words would be spoken in. Should this phrase be spoken like a vow or promise? Should it be spoken like a flat fact? Should it be spoken with a smile, a frown, a far off look? This narrator chose the musing tone of a foregone conclusion, like a thoughtful old gentleman saying "We will have biscuits with our tea tomorrow." I totally approved. I have not yet listened to Animal Farm, but based off the quality of 1984 alone this was an excellent purchase by my standards.
"Sanity is not statistical." 1984

Since my children were young, I have purchased books on tape for them to use when we travel or to listen to as they fall asleep at night. This set has an excellent narrator and our teenagers have referred to the books content on several occasions.